So … I really wanted to go hiking this weekend. It would be my only chance this year to see fall colors. My pinky toe was broken. My wife said I was dumb to go. It is a risky business. She was right of course. But it only hurts if I put my shoe on or if I stub it against something. Ummm, well I have to wear shoes when I am hiking, right? Huh. In all seriousness though, it was a thousand times better by the time the weekend came around. It was not really hurting anymore, even with shoes on. I decided to go to Lundy Canyon.
My primary objective for this hike was to photograph waterfalls with fall colors. I have been to Lundy Canyon before in October. (more than once). It is my favorite place to see waterfalls with Fall colors. This year, because of the big winter we had, I figured the creek would be flowing much better than normal. Indeed I saw a photo from a week prior and it looked pretty awesome. I was excited.
I got up at 2:30AM. Thankfully I was able to get quite a bit of sleep. Made my coffee. Made the long drive out to the Eastern Sierra. I arrived at the trailhead in the dark. Whenever I have been to Lundy Canyon before in October, I have gotten there before sunrise. And there has always been someone else that arrived there before me. Today was no exception. Who else would be so crazy to hike in the dark besides the Madman? Well, it is a very popular trail in the Fall. On the way back down from the falls I counted 25 groups of people on the trail. There are not 25 parking places so I don’t know where all these people parked their vehicles. Anyhow I’m not sure where the couple that arrived before me went. I did not see them on the trail. I guess they went to photograph the beaver pond. Speaking of which, there is now no more beaver pond at the waterfall. Someone destroyed all the beaver’s hard work. Poor little beavers.
I did not have to wait long for the light at the waterfall viewpoint. I took some photos. The colors were gorgeous. I also wanted photos from the base of the waterfall with Fall color as well and this time I was able to get that too. Already I had four good photos and I had only just started my hike. I was very happy. I could almost go home. Ha ha. The creek flow was noticeably lower than just one week ago. (from the photo I saw). I was a bit disappointed to see that but it was still more than I have ever seen it before in October. I was last here in 2012 (a drought year) and before that in 2009 (bad year) and 2005 (I think a good year – there was just a little more flow this year than in 2005). The colors were also better this year. Definitely a big win.
I’m sure you want to know all about how my toe was on the hike but I think I will save that for Part 2 … Sorry. ha ha.
On Sunday afternoon I decided to go back to Lassen again. There was still some lingering rain hanging around but I managed to avoid it on the hike.
It is not too difficult getting down to this waterfall. It is steep but not cliffy. It is not easy though and there are many loose rocks for breaking your ankle upon. It is also very well hidden. So well hidden that no one else knows it is here. I mean no one. Almost no one. I know of just one person that has been to this waterfall and he used the data on my website to find it.
It is a beauty though, if you can find it. Lower Bluff Falls is 47 ft. high. A lovely little hidden gem. It is also well named (I named it, thank you very much) because, just like the upper Bluff Falls, there is a bluff here at the lower falls as well.
Going back up the mountain is a tough climb but I felt much better on this hike (even though it was harder than Paradise Meadows). I guess I was just too tired the previous day. It was another beautiful discovery in Lassen Volcanic National Park.
We went up to visit my wife’s mom on the September long weekend. It had been awhile since I have hiked at Lassen Volcanic National Park and I wanted to get back there. I had new waterfalls to discover.
The rain was off and on again all day. When I arrived at the Hat Creek trailhead it was raining quite heavily but by the time I got my gear all ready to go it had let up. Off I went up the trail.
This is an easy hike but I really struggled on it. I don’t know why. I have worked out over the summer and I feel that I am in good shape. I have a huge hike scheduled later this month which will be very difficult with lots of elevation gain and at high elevation as well. This one only has about 600 ft. elevation gain and is not at high elevation. Am I just not in hiking shape? Or is it just because I felt tired on this day for some reason?
I made it up to Paradise Meadow and continued cross country. It was easy going. I saw a couple deer. I saw no evidence that any human had ever been over this way. I arrived at the creek and went downstream a bit, and voila! New waterfall discovery! This is a very gorgeous 33 ft. high segmented waterfall. Thank you very much, Madman. Or should I say, Rain Man.
It started to rain heavily again as I finished up photographing the waterfall. I hid under some trees and ate my dinner. By the time I got back to Hat Creek the rain had stopped so I photographed a couple of those waterfalls as well. When I got back to the car I could see about 3/4 of the mountain (I could not see any of it earlier), so I took a time lapse of the clouds rolling over the peak. It was a fabulous rainy day in Lassen Volcanic National Park.
(Who recognizes this quote? – Disclaimer: I did change the spelling of the name)
Although there were no mosquitoes at my camp the previous evening, they came out to feast in the morning. It was a terrible nightmare at Lewis Lakes Creek. I should go back to sleep. Argh.
When I arrived at camp at 2PM the previous day I found the crossing of Summit Creek to be very easy and mellow. I would have to cross it to see the waterfall. By evening, the creek had risen at least one foot and now it was flowing very swift and strong. The water was up to my thighs and had a strong pull. I crossed it, but just barely. However, in order to see the Lewis Lakes Falls you need to cross that stream as well. That creek was completely uncrossable in the evening. I would have to try again in the morning. Hopefully it would be down enough by then.
In the morning both creeks were down, although not as much as I hoped. It was enough. I was able to cross the Lewis Lakes creek (not easily) and made it up to the waterfall. Lewis Lakes Falls is 20 ft. high and it is incredibly pretty. It is located in a gorgeous setting with a stunning green pool and rising cliffs above. It was a short but fun adventure to reach it.
I returned to camp, packed up, and headed back down the trail. It was about 8 miles and took me 3.5 hours, most of it downhill. I forgot to mention earlier that this trail is absolutely horrible. Much of it is very rocky and has awful built in rock steps. I hate this. It is 3 times as hard lifting your legs over these rock steps. Some of the steps were huge. Not to mention that I almost tripped on the rocks and twisted my ankle many times. I think some of these rocky steps may be necessary on a trail like this but much of it is pointless. Why couldn’t they just build the trail properly? Anyhow, I arrived back at the car at 10:30am and drove home. It was a very grand but buggy adventure in the Emigrant Wilderness.
It did not take long for the mosquitoes to find me after I got up and out of my tent. Maybe one minute. They were horrendous. Swarming around me. Ugh!
I was not sure what I wanted to do this day. I could hike back on the trail about half way and camp another night, beside another waterfall that I still wanted to see. Or I could hike back the entire 17 miles and drive home. There were pluses and minuses to both options. Obviously I would miss the other waterfall if I hiked back the entire way and also I did not think I would have the energy to do a second 17 mile day in a row. On the other hand, the mosquitoes! I did not really want to camp a second night if the mosquitoes were so bad and I might even consider giving up the chance to see a waterfall. I decided to play it by ear and make a decision once I got to the second campsite.
First things first. I had two waterfalls to see this morning on North Fork Cherry Creek below Emigrant Lake. It was a short hike from my camp to the waterfalls, about a half mile or so, and it was easy getting down to them. They were both just over 30 ft. high and both outstanding. There was a bonus 19 ft. waterfall as well (I love bonus waterfalls). I ate my breakfast at the bonus waterfall where the mosquitoes had left me alone for a moment.
The picture shown here is the upper of the two main waterfalls on North Fork Cherry Creek. It is 34 ft. high. It is a bit smaller than expected but I think I must have included the bonus waterfall just above it in my calculations, which turned out to be a separate waterfall. Either way it is spectacular.
I returned to camp and started my hike back. Along the way I dropped my GPS on the rocks and it broke. Ugh. I feel that it should not have broken on a short drop like this but it did nonetheless. This is a good lesson for everyone and something I have said many times before: ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP NAVIGATION DEVICE. I did have a backup although I did not need it because this entire hike is on-trail and easy to follow. However, that may not have been the case if it was a different hike.
There is a 600 ft. climb from Emigrant Lake up Mosquito Pass and then the rest of the hike is downhill. It wasn’t easy but it wasn’t too hard and I made good time. I arrived at camp at 2PM. It was clear to me well before I arrived that I did not have the energy to continue my hike all the way back to the trailhead. It was still another 4 hours. I needed to camp another night. Fortunately, there were no mosquitoes here but would they come out in the evening?
I had a lovely afternoon at camp, trying to hide in the shade from the sun. I saw quite a few people that came by on the trail (in both directions). These were people mostly going to either Sheep camp (a couple miles up the trail) or to Emigrant Lake (where I had just been). I was actually kinda surprised there were so many people this far up in the wilderness. I thought I would see very few, if any. I also saw some people on pack horses going up to Emigrant Lake. I wondered how the horses would do going over the snow on Mosquito Pass. I don’t know anything about horses (I should ask my sister), but wouldn’t it be very dangerous for them? It seems to me (since they are much heavier than me) that they are going to posthole and potentially break their leg. In addition there were a couple possible dangerous sections on steep slopes that were not difficult for me, but for a horse? I hope those people knew what they were doing. Anyhow, I had to figure out a way to make my dinner without my pan that I stupidly left at home. I melted the cheese in my pot and made a sandwich. It burned the bottom of my pot but it worked well enough. It was now late in the day and still no mosquitoes. A few came out at sunset but not many. I climbed into my tent and went to bed. I would have to see the waterfall in the morning (see next post for the reason).
